This Week's Boston Deal Sheet
The Davis Cos. has reached an agreement to buy a nearly 100-acre tank farm near Encore Boston Harbor in Everett from ExxonMobil, the Boston Globe reported. The property is one of the largest available development sites in the Greater Boston area.
The developer hasn't unveiled its plans for the property, but Everett officials have touted it as an opportunity for life sciences. Exxon hired JLL to market the site for sale last year.
“Everett residents finally have the chance to realize the benefits of the types of economic development opportunities they deserve with the redevelopment of the ExxonMobil ... parcel and the Constellation Energy generating sites,” Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria told the Globe.
Everett has seen a wave of new development, such as Wynn’s Encore Boston Harbor casino and hotel, where the developer has proposed plans to build a nearby 1,000-seat events venue and restaurant. Additionally, power plant owner Constellation agreed to put up 45 acres of its Mystic Generating Station in Everett for sale.
FINANCING
MassDevelopment provided nearly $6.5M in loan financing to Concord Square Planning & Development Inc. for the redevelopment of a vacant four-story building at 28 Petronelli Way in Brockton, the home of Petronelli Gym until 2012. The developer has plans to build 18 market-rate apartments. Brockton’s Transformative Development Initiative, which ended in 2021, helped launch projects like 28 Petronelli Way through investments in the city’s downtown.
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Oliver Street Capital and Bain Capital Real Estate partnered to acquire a 157K SF industrial building in Peabody for $20.36M. The property, located at 1 Second St., is fully leased to two tenants: Wakefield Moving Storage and Paradigm Precision. The property sits in Boston's north warehouse and distribution industrial submarket, an area that has seen an increase in demand. A JLL Capital Markets team led by Senior Managing Director Brett Paulsrud and Director Amy Lousararian represented the borrowers.
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Toll Brothers, in a joint venture with PGIM Real Estate, secured $224M in financing to build a 34-story apartment tower in Downtown Boston. The project, marketed as Lyra, is planned to include 435 units and 5,500 SF of retail. Of the 432 units, 376 would be market-rate and 56 would be affordable. The Boston Planning & Development Agency first approved a project next to the Huntington Theater Co. in 2017. Two years later, plans were revised to add two floors, resulting in the 34 stories.
EXECS
Newmark promoted two of its capital markets professionals. Edward Maher was promoted to executive vice chairman and co-head of Boston capital markets, and Matthew Pullen advanced to vice chairman of Newmark’s Boston capital markets group.
Maher worked as vice chairman of Newmark since 2015 and held the same position at Cushman & Wakefield from 2001 to 2015. Pullen was an executive managing director at Newmark since 2015, previously working at Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE.
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Sasaki, a global architecture firm, promoted four of its professionals, three to principals and one to associate principal. Joshua Brooks, Anna Cawrse and Andrew Gutterman were all promoted to principal, and Tamar Warburg was promoted to associate principal in response to their work involving sustainability and climate resilience.
THIS AND THAT
Amazon fully opened a new 17-story office tower in the Seaport, where it will employ 2,000 people. The tower opened in phases starting in February. The 525K SF space represents just half of the company's planned development in the area, with another 630K SF under construction through WS Development. The office is planned to hold another 3,000 employees in roles working on Alexa, Amazon Web Services, Amazon Devices and Amazon Pharmacy.
Amazon announced the plan for expansion in 2021, and the rest of the development is set to be completed in 2024. The e-commerce giant leased another 430K SF on the corner of Congress Street and Boston Wharf Road, the Boston Globe reported.
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Boston Mayor Michelle Wu co-signed a joint grant application with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation for $1.2B in federal infrastructure funds to help with the construction of West Station and any other transportation through the Allston Multimodal Project.
The project would allow Harvard University to realign the viaduct that carries the Massachusetts Turnpike and reconnect the Allston-Brighton neighborhoods. It would open up more than 70 acres of land for development and add infrastructure improvements like walking paths and bike lanes.
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Boston Mayor Michelle Wu attended the groundbreaking for the redevelopment of JJ Carroll Apartments in Brighton. The redevelopment, in partnership with 2Life Communities and the Boston Housing Authority, will replace the 64-unit building with 142 new apartments, 114 deeply affordable through Section 8 Voucher Program and 27 affordable units through Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. This project will be connected to 2Life’s existing 763-unit complex by an enclosed pedestrian bridge.
